Bharatiya Janata Party's Murji Patel and Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray party's Rutuja Latke on Friday filed nomination papers for the November 3 Andheri East assembly byelection in Mumbai.
It will be the first assembly byelection after the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led government in Maharashtra in June, making it a litmus test of his faction's hold over the Sena's vote bank in Mumbai.
Both the BJP and Thackeray-led Sena staged shows of strength as their respective candidates filed nomination papers.
The byelection was necessitated due to the death of Rutuja Latke's husband and incumbent Shiv Sena MLA Ramesh Latke.
Friday was the last day of filing nominations.
A victory for the Uddhav Thackeray-led party would mean support for him among the Sena's voters is intact and also that the votes of Congress and Nationalist Congress Party, Thackeray's allies in the Maha Vikas Aghadi, are transferable.
A defeat, on the other hand, would be a further setback for Thackeray after 40 MLAs led by Eknath Shinde -- now chief minister -- and 12 party MPs deserted him in June.
Rutuja Latke, a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation employee, had approached the Bombay high court after the civic body refused to accept her resignation.
She could not have filed her nomination until the resignation was accepted.
The Bombay high court on Thursday ordered the BMC to accept Latke's resignation.
On Friday, the BMC accepted the resignation, paving the way for her to file her nomination papers.
Besides the NCP and Congress, even the Communist Party of India has pledged support to Latke.
Senior leaders of the Maha Vikas Aghadi took out a march before she filed nomination papers.
Aaditya Thackeray, leader of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena, said he was 100 per cent confident that Latke will get the votes of MVA constituents.
There was pressure on the BMC not to accept her resignation, he alleged.
"There is anger among people about the way a woman (Latke) was troubled. Be it the BMC or state government, the attempt was to ensure that she doesn't contest," he said.
Other leaders of the Thackeray faction including Anil Parab and MPs Priyanka Chaturvedi and Gajanan Kirtikar too were part of the march.
Mumbai Congress president Bhai Jagtap and senior Nationalist Congress Party leader Dilip Walse-Patil were also present.
The MVA will work to ensure Latke's victory, Walse-Patil said.
The BJP too staged a show of strength. Patel was accompanied by its Mumbai unit president Ashish Shelar, Pravin Darekar and Nitesh Rane. Deepak Kesarkar, a state minister and spokesperson of the Eknath Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena, was also present.
On Thursday, Kesarkar had said that the BJP and the 'Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena' headed by Shinde would field a joint candidate.
Murji Patel had lost to Ramesh Latke in 2019.
"I am a BJP worker and I do what the party asks me," Patel said before filing his nomination papers.
